She Was Beautiful
by crescendohh
Summary: And for the briefest of moments, their eyes met. Warm hazel met striking green. James/Lily.


**Disclaimer:** Yeah, no. Not mine.

**Notes:** Yes, Lily/James will forever be my OTP. I don't really write romance all that often, but there's some lines that I'm quite proud of in this one. It might be a little over the top and James might be a little too introspective and OOC, but eh... It's fluff.

_..._

**She Was Beautiful**

_..._

She was _beautiful_.

It seemed as if nothing else mattered as soon as he saw her, as if there was no war, as if innocent people weren't dying everyday. It seemed to him as if she was the only other person left in the world. Her very presence made it impossible for him to concentrate on anything else.

He loved the way she would flip her long, dark red hair back every once in a while so it wouldn't get in the way of her scrupulous note-taking. He loved the way she would always bend her head down, nearly touching her parchment, as if to block out anything that could possibly break her concentration as she wrote. He loved the way she would bite the end of her quill in indecision before quickly scratching out a sentence. He loved the way she would nervously fidget during a test; cross and un-cross her legs, glance at the clock, bite her fingernails, and sometimes, even chew on the ends of her hair.

But most of all, he loved _her_.

Most girls were a mystery to a sixteen year old boy such as himself, but he just happened to be in the love with the biggest mystery of them all. He didn't think he would ever completely understand her. Her mood swings were a terrible thing for a young man to decipher.

When she was happy and cheerful, nothing else could compare. When she smiled that wonderfully dazzling smile of hers, he felt his heart constrict in his chest. He had yet to encounter another smile as lovely as hers.

But when she was angry, he was strongly reminded of the old saying that '_hell hath no fury like a woman scorned_.' And he knew from experience that there was no escaping her wrath should she decide to unleash it. He desperately hoped that he would give her no more reason to set her wrath upon him again.

He pondered the ever captivating Lily Evans as he stared at her from across the Transfiguration classroom with glazed eyes. (He was four rows back from her and two to the left, to be precise.)

Sitting behind his desk, he had his head propped up on one arm, and his copy of Advanced Transfiguration was firmly shut beside him. He had neither parchment nor quill on his desk. He was sure that it was quite obvious he wasn't paying attention to a thing McGonagall was saying.

Sitting immediately to his left, his best mate, Sirius, was snoring rather loudly and a small puddle of drool was starting to form on the top of his desk. Absently, he realized that Sirius probably wasn't helping their illusion of attentiveness in the slightest. Remus, always on top of things, was sitting directly in front of him and hastily taking notes on McGonagall's lecture about human transfiguration. At least he could count on Remus for notes when it came time for exams. Peter was sitting a couple of rows over to the right of Remus. He wasn't taking notes, but he did seem to be paying attention.

Distractedly, he reached up to run his free hand through his hair. (Old habits die hard.) At the same moment, Lily started to chew on the end of her quill. He smiled a slightly crooked smile as he watched her. She'd already chewed on her quill at least seven times that class period. She hesitated a moment, her quill hovering over her parchment, before she finally decided to scratch out something about midway down.

She continued on with her note-taking. How she could concentrate on McGonagall's lecture and still manage to take down everything, he didn't know. He knew he should probably at least make an attempt to listen. Perhaps, just by opening his book or by taking out his quill. He knew he really should, but he didn't. He couldn't tear his eyes away from her.

As McGonagall performed some sort of example to go along with what she was explaining, he continued to watch Lily. She fidgeted slightly, tapping her quill on the top her desk and glancing around the room.

And for the briefest of moments, their eyes met.

Warm hazel met striking green. He had been caught openly staring at her. He knew he should look away, as if to signify the transitory meeting of their eyes was merely a coincidence. He knew he should at the very least have the decency to look ashamed. Yet, he couldn't bring himself to do either. He wasn't ashamed, and he didn't want to turn away. He could stare into her bright green eyes for an eternity and more.

There was something slightly different about her eyes today, he noticed. They seemed to be more cordial, more inviting than they ordinarily were. Usually, they were full of contempt and disapproval when she let her gaze fall upon him.

But not today.

After only a moment - which felt more like hours to him - she looked away, but not before he managed to catch her lips quirk up into that lovely smile of hers.

He felt a distinct blush creep up into his cheeks. He buried his head into his arms, thankful that Sirius was still sleeping soundly beside him. Sirius, he knew, would never let him hear the end of it had he seen the tinge of red marring his cheeks.

'_Imagine that! A single look from one girl_,' he could practically hear his best friend say, bark like laughter ringing through his head, '_can make the great James Potter blush! Not going soft on us, are you Prongs?_'

That one look had made his day, though. It had maybe even made his week.

Through his arms, he continued watched her. As far as he was concerned, nothing else mattered. For all he cared, they were the only two in the room. He didn't want to look anywhere or at anyone else. He only had eyes for her.

He had known soon after meeting her that there could be no other girl for him. He knew and had known for quite a while that he was in love with her. But he could only continue to watch her from afar at the moment.

He knew it was all he could do. For now.


End file.
